Gowron

Notes

Along with Duras, Gowron was one of the candidates to become Chancellor of the Klingon High Council after the death of K'mpec in 2367. He was considered to be an outsider, but won through when Duras was killed by Worf in retaliation for his murder of K'ehleyr.1His leadership was challenged by the surviving members of the House of Duras, Lursa, B'Etor and Toral. The challenge pushed the Klingon Empire into a civil war, and for a time it looked as if Gowron's leadership would fail.2Fortunately it was uncovered that the Duras side was being covertly supported by the Romulans, and Captain Picard led a Federation fleet to blockade the Klingon/Romulan border, denying the Duras Romulan support. Gowron moved quickly to end the war and secure his position. As a side note, Worf and Kurn's support for Gowron led him to restore the honour of the House of Mogh.3

After the war Gowron tried to re-write history to claim all credit for his victory for himself.4In 2359 Gowron's position as chancellor was threatened by the apparent return from the dead of Kahless the Unforgettable. The returned Kahless proved to be a clone of the original, but Gowron agreed to let the clone become the ceremonial Emperor as an inspiration for the Klingon people.5Gowron regarded the Cardassian people's overthrow of their government in 2372 with great suspicion, convinced that the Dominion had engineered the takeover. He launched an invasion of Cardassian space, which was largely successful.6Captain Sisko engineered the escape of the new ruling Detapa council, proving that they were not Founder infiltrators and giving them shelter on Deep Space Nine. Gowron launched an attack on the station, but this was unsuccessful.6

A short war between the Federation and Klingons followed.7When Odo returned to the Great Link for a short time, he became convinced that Gowron was himself a Founder8, prompting a Federation mission to uncover the truth at Ty'Gokor where he was awarding several warriors the Order of the Bat'leth. It transpired that Gowron was not a Founder, but his advisor General Martok was.9In 2373 the Klingon forces in Cardassia were defeated when the Cardassians joined the Dominion. In response Gowron agreed to once more sign the Empire up to the Khitomer Accords, re-establishing the alliance with the Federation.10

Gowron was not a great war leader; he was reluctant to assist the Federation in recapturing Deep Space Nine despite the station's vital strategic importance11, but did eventually send forces to help.12As the war continued Gowron became jealous of the military success of General Martok, and took personal command of the Klingon military.13His leadership was a disaster, prompting Worf to challenge him to personal combat. Gowron was killed, and Worf persuaded General Martok to replace him.14